Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the 73-year-old Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy advocate, was yesterday denied bail after being charged the previous day under the territory’s National Security Law.
Lai faces a charge of collusion with foreign elements to endanger national security, apparently for posts he wrote on Twitter and interviews or commentaries he did with foreign media.
The Apple Daily, a newspaper owned by Lai, said he is accused of asking a foreign country, organization or individual to impose sanctions or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
Photo: Reuters
His case was adjourned to April 16 at the request of prosecutors, who said police needed time to review more than 1,000 posts and comments made on his Twitter account, the Apple Daily reported.
The newspaper said his charge sheet listed several foreign politicians who followed Lai on Twitter and cited commentaries he wrote and interviews he did with foreign media.
Lai, who was already being held on fraud charges after police raided his media company, was seen handcuffed with a chain around his waist as guards led him to a van to go from prison to court.
In an open letter to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) on Friday, US Senator Rick Scott called for the immediate release of Lai, along with others charged under the law, including Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), Agnes Chow (周庭) and Ivan Lam (林朗彥).
“Mr Wong, Ms Chow, Mr Lam, and Mr Lai are the faces of true bravery and are fighting for the freedom and liberties all Hong Kongers were promised under the 1997 handover,” the letter said, referring to an agreement China made with the British government to ensure the territory’s autonomy.
“They have not committed actual crimes, rather they have bravely dared to offend the fragile sensibilities of [Chinese President] Xi Jinping (習近平),” it said.
Carrie Lam has “failed Hong Kong and its citizens,” Scott wrote in the letter, saying that over the past two years, she has “proved to be nothing more than a puppet for General Secretary Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” and has used the new national security legislation “to unfairly and unjustly prosecute men and women for standing up for freedom and participating in peaceful protests.”
“If you do not start standing for the freedoms the people of Hong Kong were rightfully promised, history will judge you harshly,” the letter said, calling on Carrie Lam “to finally do what is right, and choose instead to honor these brave men and women for their commitment to fighting for basic rights for Hong Kongers.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS